Widex

Widex: “The Natural Choice for you”

Widex was founded in Denmark in 1956 by Christian Topholm and Erik Westermann. Widex developed the first digitally programmable hearing aid with a remote control in 1988, and the first fully digital in-the-ear hearing aid in 1995. Widex values finding ‘green’ solutions to hearing loss and is the first CO2 neutral hearing aid manufacturer with their environmentally-friendly headquarters in Denmark, where research, development, and production take place.

What we like about Widex:

Widex has great sound quality that often results in the 'WOW' factor in our clinic. Their most recent hearing aid platform is called “Beyond” and they have four models in this newest chip. The Beyond line has one of the strongest wind noise algorithms on the market, which is apparent in their marketing materials where everyone is on a boat or a ski hill. Outside of best in class wind noise management, it has excellent ability to pick up soft sound in the environment. I often find people who have used Unitron or Phonak hearing aids in the past will really notice a huge difference when listening through a Widex hearing aid because of the soft sound enhancements.

The Beyond product line is an iPhone connected product that also uses the Z Power rechargeable battery system. Widex has the best price point on rechargeable options adding a total of $250 to the total cost which includes the charger, two rechargeable batteries and the battery doors with the contacts.

We love the app with Widex for the iPhone. It allows a lot of flexibility for the user in terms of setting the microphone directionality and changing low, mid and high frequencies independently. We have attached a guide HERE for iOS Bluetooth Connectivity for those who are having trouble connecting their phones, or should you loose the pairing of your hearing aids to your phone for some reason

As well as great sound quality, it is generally our choice product for people who have tinnitus. The Widex Zen Therapy option gives far more sounds to choose from including their fractal tones, which I have found to be very effective for tinnitus habituation.

In addition, Widex has long been thought to be the choice product for musicians and we have had a lot of positive feedback around music processing using these hearing aids.

The product line ranges from the Beyond 110 at $1750 per device up to the Beyond 440 is the premium technology and has a cost of $2850 per hearing aid. The 440 has their most advanced features for processing a signal in a complex environment such as noise. Widex is updating their environmental sound classification system in April 2018 for an even more refined ability for the hearing aid to categorize different environments and apply the most appropriate algorithm to process sound.

Like all other hearing aid manufacturers, Widex has retail outlets across Canada called Helix Hearing Care. On Vancouver Island, Helix Care, or Widex owns a clinic in Nanaimo and owns McNeill Audiology in Victoria and Sidney. In March 2018, Helix/McNeill sent out a brochure offering $1000 off plus $1300 worth of accessories on the Beyond 440. The regular price on the 440’s at McNeill is $3695 each hearing aid for a total of $7390 for both hearing aids. The $1000 off brings the total to $6390, which is still $690 more expensive than what we have as our regular price ongoing in both our Broadmead and Oak Bay Clinics. It definitely pays to shop around and to use an independent hearing clinic.

If you are interested in a trial period with Widex, or would like better pricing on Widex, feel free to give us a call.